Two Influential Shareholders Want Nadella To Get Rid Of Bing, Xbox And Surface

And the politics begin! There are many that swear by Microsoft products like Bing, Xbox and Surface, claiming these businesses to be absolutely vital for the long term future and relevancy of the company in the technology industry.

Then again, most hardcore investors have nothing to do with long terms — they just want instant gratification, at the expense of strategy, at the expense of future growth, at the expense of potentials.

Maximizing the bottom line is their bottom line.

And no sooner than Satya Nadella took charge of the Redmond Empire have these investors started their pressurizing tactics. The very next day of his appointment is he confronted with these problems.

According to this report over at the Washington Post at least two highly influential Microsoft shareholders are trying to convince the board to get rid of these three products. All three, which they claim, leak money and divert attention and resources away from more profitable endeavors.

In essence, these investors are asking Microsoft to focus on cloud and enterprise software first and foremost, as these are the units that are bringing in the most money for Redmond.

We do not know Nadella’s position on this, for what it’s worth.

But his close ties to Steve Ballmer, and Bill Gates now by his side, it will be rather hard for the new CEO to make such drastic changes and revert the trajectory that his predecessor set throughout the course of these past few months.

With ValueAct Capital now getting their man to sit on the company board, along with their substantial investment in the technology titan, there is a now a certain chance that we may have to deal with growing tensions at the company.

We have heard these talks before, but now with a new CEO, the investors would want to drive home the point while the iron is hot. Fingers crossed for saner heads to prevail.